


I Bet My Life

by flowerpower71



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-07 18:06:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7724473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerpower71/pseuds/flowerpower71
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on an "What if" Au idea I had. Stanley makes a deal with Bill in order to bring Stanford back from the other dimension. Now it's up to Standford to save his twin brother from the clutches of the evil mind demon but in order to do so, he'll need some help. Friendships are made. Past sins are brought to light and nothing is more powerful than a brothers love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One Year Later

"I've told a million lies but now I tell a single truth: There's you in everything I do." - I bet my Life, Imagine Dragons

.............................................................................................................................

 

One year.

One full year.

An entire 365 days since that day.

One full year since Stanley Pines had last seen his brother.

 

Slightly shaky hands tightly clenched around the wrench and muscles flexed as Stan worked to turn the wrench, tightening the bolt on the lever to the portal. Sticky black oil stained his already dirty and ripped jeans along with his previously white t-shirt but Stan couldn't care less about any of that. His mind was much too preoccupied with the task at hand. 

 

"It has to work this time. It has too!" Stan said to himself, slight desperation in his voice. Once the bolt he was tightening would move no more, Stan jumped to his feet and hurried over to the control panel. His fingers flew over the panel, pushing buttons and flipping switches.

 

The man's head jerked up and looked over at the triangle shaped portal in front of him. The machine began to hum as it came to life. The circle in the center of the triangle began to glow and rainbow colors began to swirl as it started up. This was it! He had finally fixed it!

 

"Yes! YES! Come on baby!!" Stanley cheered, the biggest smile pulling at his face. At last. At long last his brother would be back.

 

Or so he thought.

 

Stanley felt his smile fall and his heart drop into his stomach. There was a spark and a buzzing noise followed by a short blast of electricity that shot itself around the portal. The lights in the portal dimmed, the rainbow colors disappeared and the humming stopped as the machine died again.

 

"AW COME ON!!!" Stanley screamed, hitting the side of the control panel with his fist in frustration. He was so close.....so very close.

 

Stan sighed and balled his hands into fists and pressed them against his brown eyes. Flashbacks of that horrible day, the last time he saw his twin, playing again in his mind. 

 

Stanford's crazed and paranoid look and behavior.

 

That stupid fight.

 

That stupid brawl.

 

Stanford kicking Stanley and accidentally causing the burn scar/tattoo on the back of his right shoulder.

 

And worst of all, the pure and utter wave of horror that Stanley felt once he pushed Ford into the portal and watched as his brother disappear inside as he called for help.

 

Stanley had lost count of how many times he thought that scenario over. What he could have said differently. What he could have done differently. The many many times he had prayed to wake up from this nightmare. Prayed for a second chance to have done things different. Oh what he wouldn't give to change this fate.

 

But alas, one cannot change the past. All that Stanley could do now was keep working and fix the portal to bring Stanford back.

 

Still, that didn't lessen the blow of yet another failure.

 

Stanley let out a shaky breath and removed his fists from his eyes. He blinked a couple of times warding off the threatening tears and he turned and looked at the clock. 12:47 AM.

 

A wave of exhaustion suddenly washed over the younger Pines twin. He had a busy day running the shop and had been even busier trying to work on the portal ever since he closed up shop for the day. It was time to call it a day.

 

With a heavy heart and a weary body, Stanley turned and trudged up the stairs out of his brother's secret lab. He exited the lab behind the vending machine and headed up to his room, stripping down to his boxers and white tank top before collapsing face first onto the bed. His mullet sprawling out across the pillow.

 

Stan rolled to his side and stared off into the darkness. Once more his mind drifted back to his brother. Was he going to bed right now too? Was it morning wherever he was at? Was he warm? Was he safe? Again and again the same old questions ran through his mind and again and again, Stanley had no way to answer them.

 

"Goodnight Ford.....wherever you are."

 

Stanley rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. Exhaustion began to settle in and he felt his eyelids slip down over his chocolate brown eyes, drifting off into a deep, deep sleep.

 

...............................................................................................

 

When Stanley opened his eyes he did not see the ceiling of his bedroom like he should have. Instead, much to his confusion, he saw sky.

 

A gray, cloudy, sky.

 

"What the hot Belgian waffles?"

 

Stan's body immediately moved into a sitting position and he looked around him at his surroundings. For miles and miles upon end, all he could see was tall dry grass that gently swayed in the breeze. Stanley quickly realized he was in some type of field but the question remained:

 

Why was he here?

 

And for that matter, how did he even get there?

 

The mullet man briefly wondered if his past had finally caught up with him and he had somehow been knocked out and kidnapped in the middle of the night by one of his many, many enemies. After all, he never did get to pay Ricko back that money he still owed him.

 

Stan shook his head, disregarding the idea. No. Surely he would have known before now if he had been kidnapped. Plus he would have been tied up and the kidnappers would have been around to make sure he didn't escape if that was the case.

 

So if it wasn't a kidnapping, then how'd he get there?

 

"Hello?" Stan called rising to his feel and looking around. "Hellooooo!? Hey! Is anyone there?"

 

His frown deepened and he bit the inside of his cheek when no response was heard. There wasn't another soul around for miles and Stan came to the conclusion that he was completely and utterly alone.

 

"Yeah, what else is new?" Stan thought bitterly.

 

Without knowing what else to do, the man decided to start walking and try to find.....anything. A road. A house. People. Anything to give him some sort of idea where he was at. He started walking forward, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his dirty red jacket.

 

Wait, jacket?

 

Stanley stopped and looked down at the jacket he was wearing. Food and grease stains marring the faded red fabric. "Huh....I could have sworn I took this off before I went to bed...."

 

He shrugged it off for there were more pressing matters to attend to first and continued onwards, walking aimlessly through the grassy knee high field.

 

Stan didn't know how long he had been walking for until he felt his body come to a dead stop. His eyes widened and he stared at the objects in front of him.

 

Correction: Three objects.

 

"No way...."

 

To his left, was the swingset that he and Stanford used to play on all the time as children, and even still sit on as teenagers when they were out of school. Only difference was that one of the swings was broken.

 

To his right, was the Stan-o-War. Well sort of. The ship bore a strong resemblance to the old dingy he and Stanford had found all those years ago and had worked on together every summer but never got to finish. It was exactly how Stan had imagined it would look when it was complete, but now the sails were torn and a large whole took up more than half a side.

 

And in the center, right in front of him, was the portal. Unlike the other two objects though, portal was not broken. It was as perfect and pristine and as dead as it had always been.

 

Stanley shuddered violently as he stared at the three objects. A sense of dread suddenly washing over him. Whatever was going on here, he did not like it.

 

"Okay, this is getting too creepy." he mumbled taking a few steps back. What the heck was going on?

 

"Hiya!"

 

"GYAAAAH!" Stan screamed and whirled around, his hand clutching at his chest.

 

"Hey, hey take it easy bub. Don't have a heart attack."

 

Stanley blinked and looked at the source of the voice. In front of him was a bright yellow triangle wearing a black top hat and a black bow tie. A large, single eye took up the majority of the creature's "face" and Stan felt another small shudder go down his back as the eye stared right at him, seemingly straight through to his soul.

 

"Take a picture pal, it'll last longer." The triangle spoke, glowing a tiny bit with everyword it spoke. Stan briefly wondered how this.....thing, had the ability to speak for it did not have a mouth.

 

Stan blinked and looked around. Left. Right. Then back at the triangle and pointed at himself. "Are you talking to me?"

 

"No shit Sherlock. You see any other mullet heads around here?" the triangle spoke as it floated behind Stan and gave his long hair a little flip. Stan retaliated by smacking his hand away. 

 

"Hey! Don't touch the hair!"

 

The triangle held up his hands in a surrender like motion. "Okay, okay take it easy there."

 

Stan rolled his eyes and looked back at the triangle again, raising an eyebrow. " Who are you?"

 

"Name's Bill. Bill Cipher. Nice to meet you."

 

Bill Cipher. Why did that name sound familiar?

 

"Uh.....I'm Stan." Stan introduced himself awkwardly, not knowing what else to do.

 

"Oh I already know who you are."

 

Stan blinked caught off guard. "Excuse me?"

 

"I said, I know already know who you are."

 

"No offense, but I'm pretty sure I'd remember meeting a talking nacho."

 

"Wow! Stanford was right. You really are a smart alec."

 

The whole world suddenly stopped. "Stanford......you know my brother?!"

 

"Sure do~!" Bill raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Blue flames suddenly engulfed him, disappearing just as fast as they appeared. Once the flames were gone, so was Bill.

 

"WAIT!!!" Stan screamed desperately, reaching out to where Bill once stood.

 

"Over here."

 

Stan whirled around and felt relieved seeing Bill, casually swinging on the swingset. He walked over. "You know my brother?"

 

"Yep." Bill answered popping the 'p'. "Old Fordsy and I go way back. You could say, he's an old friend of mine. And he told me all about you."

 

Stan blinked a sense of dread settling in his stomach. Whatever Ford told Bill, he was sure is wasn't good. "Look, whatever that idiot told you, me breaking his invention was an accident!"

 

"Accident or not, you still screwed up his chace of going to that fancy schmancy dream school of his." Bill replied matter of factly before disappearing once again in a burst of flame. Stan looked around and this time spotted the fancy triangle in the crows nest of the broken down Stan-O-War. "But I guess that that worked out for the best cause then otherwise, he wouldn't have met me."

 

A million thought's jumbled through Stan's mind at once. Most of them about his brother but he needed to get some of the more obvious ones out of the way first. "Okay slow down, what are you exactly? And where the heck are we? And why are we here!?"

 

Bill gave a casual wave of the hand. "All you need to know about me is that I'm a very powerful guy. I know all and see all and can do things your puny little human brain cant even imagine. As for where we are, were inside your mind."

 

"............You lost me."

 

Bill poofed again and reappeared sitting on the side of the ship, casually leaning his legs over the edge. "This is a dream. You're body is still fast asleep inside that shack you call a house. The you standing here now, talking to me, is your dream self."

 

"Then why am I dreaming this?" Stan asked getting more and more weirded out by the second.

 

"Geesh you ask a lot of questions." Bill rolled his eye. "Minds and dreams are kinda my thing you see. I want to talk to you so I entered your mind while you were sleeping."

 

".....Yeah. That's not creepy at all!" Stan responded dryly. "Ever hear of personal space?"

 

"Actually, I think you're gonna be happy with what I'm about to say next: I got a deal for ya."

 

Every fiber of his being told Stanley not to listen to another word. To walk away and not look back. This Bill character was shady and Stan knew it.....but he was also the last possible link to his brother.

 

"What kind of deal?" Stanley asked cautiously.

 

Once again, blue flames erupted up and Bill disappeared again. This time he appeared in the front of the portal. Floating in the dead center.

 

"I can help you bring your brother back."


	2. A Deal With the Devil

"I can help you bring your brother back."

 

With those eight little words, the whole entire world came to a sudden halt. Eight little words and Stanley knew that his life was about to change forever once again. Eight little words that carried so much weight and meaning. 

 

Eight little words full of lies.

"You're bluffing!" Stanley snapped pointing an accusatory finger at the floating top hat wearing triangle. "I've been working my ass off on that portal for a full year, ever since my brother got sucked in there in the first place! There is no way that some weirdo Cyclops tortilla chip like you can bring him back so easily!"

 

"What? You don't believe me?" Bill asked feigning innocence in his voice. 

 

"No. I don't." Stanley said crossing his arms stubbornly. 

 

"Stanley, please. Take a minute and think about what you're throwing away here." Bill tried to reason. "Like I said before, Im a very powerful guy. In fact, just the fact that I'm talking to you right now should be proof enough."

Stanley would still not be convinced. He didn't want to get his hopes up only to have them crash and burn like they have so many times before in the past. "Yeah well, for all I know this is just one of those weird food induced dreams. You're the cold leftover pizza I had for dinner tonight and when I wake up tomorrow, all of this will just be a dream."

"It will be if you want it to be."

Stan blinked and looked over at Bill again. His eyebrow quirking up in confusion and curiosity of the odd statement. "What are you talking about?"

 

"I have the power to enter peoples minds, talk to them and even control their dreams." Bill explained. He raised up a skinny black colored arm and turned in a circle, gesturing to the portal, the swingset and the ship. "You think these three things are here merely by coincidence? Nuh uh. I brought these things here because these things are the main objects that have the strongest memories between you and your brother."

 

With a snap of the fingers, Stan felt his body stiffen as the Stan-O-War suddenly began to creak. The boat moved as if it were sailing in the water instead of stuck in a dry grassy field and Stan watched as the front of the ship began to lift itself into the air and then began to sink beneath the grass. Disappearing and never to be seen again.

To his left the swingset suddenly began to dismantle itself and, like the boat, sunk into the ground. Only the portal remained untouched.

 

"I can bring things here and I can take it away just as easily."

 

Stan's hands clenched themselves into fists inside of the pockets of his jacket and he felt his face scowl. "Yeah. That's all fine and dandy. But I aint interested in seeing my brother in my dreams and having him disappear the moment I wake up. So unless you can bring Ford back in the real world, I aint interested so see ya."

 

And with that, the brunette turned on his heel and began to storm off. Walking away in the opposite direction of both Bill and the portal. He was done dealing with the weird little creature and now just wished he could wake up. 

 

"Hold your horses there!" Stan jumped back as Bill suddenly poofed in front of him. The shock of the sudden appearance was so sudden it caught Stan off guard and he fell backwards landing on his back, with an 'Oof!'

 

Stanley groaned in pain and opened his eyes only to see Bill hovering over him, hands resting on his....hips? 

"Do living triangles even have hips? I mean, he's got arms, legs, an eye and can talk so maybe?" Stan shook his head of these odd and irrelevant thoughts of the pesky shape. Now was not to time to be questioning the anatomy of a shape.

 

"You didn't let me finish." Bill said as he lowed himself down and stood on Stanley's stomach. Stan lifted his head up just enough to keep contact with the dream creature and glare at it. He was really starting to get annoying. "Yes it's true what you said. I can make anything happen in the dream world but once you're awake, its just that. A dream. Or a nightmare. Depends on my mood, honestly."

 

"So why would I want you to bring my brother back if its just a dream and not the real thing?"

 

"Because Stanley Pines, it CAN be the real thing." 

 

Stanley remained quiet, searching for the right words for a comeback but none would come to him. Surely this is all just some type of trick. Surely he was bluffing. 

........But then again, what's the harm in hearing him out.

"......I'm listening." Stan finally gave in.

"There's a little bit of a loophole." Bill began. "If you make a deal with me in the dream world, then it becomes reality in the real world. If you make a deal with me, that little portal of yours will start right up and old Six Fingers will be back at home safe in sound where he belongs."

It was too good to be true. All those tries and failures. All the heartache. All the guilt. It was all about to end. Stan felt his heart begin to lift. This was it! This was the chance he had been waiting for!

But at what price?

Stan felt his smile fall and a feeling of caution replaced his previous joy. "What's the catch?"

"Oh nothing to big." Bill reassured. "I just need a physical form for a little bit."

 

"Physical form?" 

"Yeah. Im just an illusion in here remember? But once you make a deal with me, Ford will be back and I'll just temporarily take over your body."

" Wait, WHAT?!" Stan shrieked. "No way! Not gonna happen!"

"It'll only be for a little bit!" Bill quickly put in. "I just want to know what it's like to be in the real world for a little bit. That's all. And besides, a couple hours of me having fun is nothing compared to the price of having your brother back. You're getting the better end of the deal here."

Bill suddenly began to float upwards off of Stan and once again, Stan got the "seeing your soul" feeling from Bill as that one single eyeball stared down at him. The triangle mind demon held out his hand and blue flames erupted around it.

"So, do we have a deal?"

Stan was torn. This didn't sound right. Having another being take control over his body? Who knows what damage Bill could cause while inside. And of coarse Stan would get blamed for it all in the end. And what would happen to him while Bill was possessing him.

But then.....what about Stanford?

His brother would be back. They would be together again. He could quit stealing his brother's identity and go back to being Stanley again. They could be.....they could be friends again.

 

"Tick tock Stanley. I'm not getting any younger here."

 

Stan weighed the options in his mind and now he could see, it was no contest. He rolled to his side and rose to his feet. His brown eyes stared into Bill's one eye and he held out his hand and clasped his hand to Bill's. The fire from Bill's hand engulfing his own.

 

"It's a deal."

.............................................................................................................

 

Gun shots exploded and sirens screamed. Stanford's heart banged against his rib cage and his breath came out in quick pants as he raced down the street. 

 

"Stop!"

 

"Don't let him get away!" 

 

Stanford turned his head and looked back, cursing under his breath as the two grotesque henchmen of his mortal enemy began to gain on his heels. A six fingered hand went to the pocket of his black cargo pants and shoved itself inside the pocket. He pulled out the handmade grenade and pulled out the pin with his teeth before turning back long enough to toss it back at his pursuers.

 

"Watch out!" one of the henchmen shouted as the grenade flew back in their direction. The men split up, one going left and the other going right, and Stanford took a flying leap and dived behind an abandoned overturned car just as the grenade exploded.

 

Stanford hunched down and covered his ears with his hands. The earth shook and his teeth rattled inside of his mouth and he felt the heat of the fire from the grenade momentarily above him before it disappeared in an instant. 

 

He opened up his eyes which he didn't realize he had shut and waited a second. Then another before poking his head over the car, peeking to see if the coast was clear. His pursuers were gone, probably blown back by the blast. With the coast clear, Ford rose to his feet and broke out into a quick jog, getting away before the men or anyone else came after him.

 

"That was too close." The brunette thought to himself, looking behind his shoulder to double make sure that no one was following him. He continued forward and his mind began to calculate his next coarse of action. He was running low on provisions and needed to restock. There was an abandoned convenience store just a couple of blocks ahead. He'd go there and steal some food and water. Then he'd head back to his hide out and lay low the rest of the day. 

It was a simple "Get in, get out" type of plan really. But it wouldn't be so easy to accomplish. Ford was a wanted man in this dimension. His face was plastered all over this city and with the high bounty hanging over his head, keeping hidden wasn't exactly easy with people constantly looking for you.

Luckily though, the streets seemed to be abandoned now. It was late at night and most of the residents were asleep. 

After a few moments of travelling in silence, Ford finally rounded th corner and made it to the abandoned store. The windows were shattered and graffiti decorated the filthy brick walls. Ford entered the store and the inside was much worse. Shattered glass littered the floor, shelves were overturned, cobwebs took over every corner and the floor was sticky with spilled soda and melted candies.

 

Ford paid little mind to the mess and got to work sorting through the contents of the non turned over shelves, stuffing his bag with anything that was eatable and not too horribly broken beyond repair.

 

The man paused as he reached to stuff another snack food into his backpack but stopped upon noticing the writing on the bag.

Toffee Peanuts.

Eleven years worth of anger suddenly came rushing back and washed over Ford like a tidal wave as memories from long ago flashed through his mind. Memories of his brother sabotaging his perpetual motion machine and ruining his chances of getting into his dream school. Memories of Ford finding his brother's favorite snack food at the scene of the crime and realizing he had been betrayed in the worst possible way by his once most trusted person. Memories of the fight they got in when Ford returned home that night and memory of the last time they saw each other one year ago, right before he was sent to this hell on eath.....

 

It was all Stanley's fault!

 

His six fingered hand shook slightly and he clutched the bag tightly before throwing it across the room. The bag was airborn for several seconds before it smacked against the wall and then flopped down onto the ground.

 

Stanford let out a couple of shaky breaths as he let his anger melt away. Now was not the time to be getting angry and taking said anger out on innocent snack foods. Now was not the time to be thinking about HIM.

He turned around and prepared to resume his foraging but a sound caught his attention. A type of tearing sound, only much louder and closer. Stanford barely had time to turn his head before he was blinded by a bright light that suddenly flooded the room. The outlaw dropped his bag and his arms flew up, covering his face from the unearthly brightness and he felt his feet slide back on the linolieum floor from the sudden forced winds. What was going on!?

 

Ford slowly moved his arms away and blinked, trying to adjust to the light and the winds to see the source of the sudden chaos. Once his sight returned to him, Stanford felt his stomach drop along with his jaw and his chocolate eyes widened to the size of saucers at the sight before him.

 

"Oh no. NO! He didn't!?!?!"

 

The source of the sudden light and wind was coming from a bright circular white light with rainbow colors swirling around the outer edges. Ford knew exactly what it was. A portal. A portal back home to his own dimension.

 

But that also meant something else.

 

"That IDIOT!" Ford exclaimed pulling at his brown and white streaked hair in frustration. "He's going to create an intermensional ri-"

 

Ford's rant was cut off by a horrified gasp as his warnings and theories suddenly began to become a reality. In the bottom corner of the portal, a small tear began to form. The inside of the tear looking like outer space and if not for the fact that Ford knew that this rift could mean the end of the world, he would have taken a moment to appreciate the beauty.

 

"Oh no! This is not good! I must contain it somehow!" Ford thought as he frantically looked around the shop for something to contain the rift in. A grin suddenly pulled at his lips as he caught sight of a shelf of snowglobes that once were up for sale. Most of the snowglobes were broken but a couple were not and that gave Ford and idea.

 

Quickly he snatched up one of the non-broken snowglobes and detached the glass ball from the base. Water, fake snow and glitter poured out onto his muddy boot but Ford paid no mind as he raced back to the portal. Being careful not to actually touch the rift, the male managed to scoop up the floating space-y looking material into the glass ball and quickly slapped the base on top. 

 

"Haha! Gotcha!" Ford declared, grinning in victory. He then sat the now contained snowglobe onto the counter and rummaged in his backpack and pulled out some caution tape, along with some small pipes and then attached them to the snowglobe in order to better contain the rift. "There. That should work for now."

 

Ford stared at his newly created experiment, taking a few moments to watch the swirling space matter as it moved around inside it's glass prison like lava in a lava lamp.

But now he had another issue to deal with.

 

The winds continued to blow, gently tossing his brown and white locks around and Ford looked up at the portal. It was still there. He grabbed the rift and stuffed it into his pocket as he took a few steps forward peeking inside the middle of the portal. The image was hard to see but from what Ford could tell, it looked like his old laboratory.....

 

"I......I can go home....."

 

Despite his still burning anger towards his twin, both for their old issues from the past and his new anger for being wreckless enough to tamper with the portal and risk destroying the world, Ford would be lying if he said he wasn't at least a tiny bit happy to finally be out of this literal hell hole.

 

He adjusted his goggles and wrapped his scarf around his face and with a deep breath, Stanford Filbrick Pines walked forward into the portal. The portal growing small and smaller and within seconds both him and the portal were gone forever and the convenience store was abandoned once again.

 

..................................................................................................................

 

At first everything was white. Blindingly white. Stanford couldn't even see his own hand in front of his face. Despite the momentary blindness however, he continued on, walking forward. But then, a shape began to take form up ahead. A circle. And inside the circle, Stanford immediately recognized his laboratory.

 

Slowly, Stanford walked ahead. Worried that this was just a dream. He walked towards and finally through the portal and once he was out, the machine behind him died down. This wasn't a dream. He was home!

 

And his home was an absolute wreck.

The lab was destroyed. Anything that was not nailed down looked as it had been lifted off the ground and then dropped back down. 

"Must be from the gravity going out of whack when the portal had started up." Ford thought to himself as he walked forward looking around his lab. Oh how many hours had he spent in here? Thinking, planning, analyzing and creating. 

 

As Ford was about to take another step forward, something caught his attention. Ford looked down and couldn't help but smile at the object. A red leather bound, obviously well loved and well used book. A golden six fingered hand was glued onto the cover and the number one was written in the palm of the hand.

 

"My journal." Ford thought fondly as be bent down and grabbed the old book. He opened up his black coat and stuffed the journal in the inside pocket, right next to his white feather quill pen. Once the journal was safely secure inside his coat pocket he reached up and removed his goggles and scarf and that's when he spotted something else.

 

"Stanley!!!" Stanford growled, glaring daggers at his brother's back as a new wave of fresh rage washed over him. "What were you thinking you knuckle head?! You could have destroyed the universe! This was an INSANELY risky move restarting the portal! Didn't you read my warnings!?"

 

Silence was his only response.

 

Ford gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. "Ignoring me isn't going to work Stanley! Answer me, dammit! What the hell were you thinking?!"

 

But once again, the elder Pines twin was greeted with silence.

 

"Stanley Pines! I am talking to you!"

 

Ford felt something inside of him snap and with only four long strides, he stormed forward and clenched his hand into a fist. He reached up with his other hand and spun his brother around, raising his fist to punch him but the instant his caught sight of his brother's face, Ford's anger was instantly replaced with stone cold fear and another horrified gasp escaped his throat.

 

"No...."

 

An insane smile pulled at Stanley's lips and an even more insane sounding laugh erupted from it. Stanley's once warm chocolate brown eyes that looked identical to Ford's was now completely yellow, even the whites. And his pupils were now long, oval and vertical shaped. 

 

Ford took a step back away from the man as the laughter continued to grow louder in volume, getting more hysterical sounding and insane by the second. This.....this was not Stan.

 

"Welcome back Fordsy."


	3. Meat Puppet and a Desperate Desicion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Just a warning for the squeamish; this chapter contains semi-graphic descriptions of self mutilation (Well not exactly "self" mutilation persay.....ah you'll see what I mean in a minute.) Reader discretion is advised.

Stanford took a step back. Then another. His blood ceased to flow and the cold, merciless hand of fear gripped his heart as he stared at his twin.....only now, it was not his twin.

 

"No....No! No! It cant be?!"

 

"Surprise~!" Bill grinned sadistically and laughed. "Oh boy, does it feel good to be in a body again!" he declared admiring his new vessel. "Though, I gotta say, this ones a little bit more on the chubby side." he added as he poked at Stan's stomach.

 

"You!" Bill looked up as he suddenly found himself being grabbed by the shirt collar. "You leave my brother's body this instant!"

 

"Hmmm, yeah not gonna happen." the dream demon jus grinned and then proceeded to shove the brunette off of him. Ford stumbled backwards before tripping over a pipe and falling on his bottom. "Besides, your brother and I made a deal."

 

Stanford froze. His head snapping up towards Bill's direction. "He.....what?"

 

"I said, we had a deal." Bill repeated, walking over to a machine and staring at his reflection. "Oh wow! Lookit this hair! I thought only the females of your kind had long hair like this?" he grabbed a strand of the mullet and examined it. "Hmm.....To cut it, or not to cut it? Descions. Descions."

 

"What do you mean you made a deal with Stanley!?" Ford demanded, trying to get Bill's attention back to the conversation.

 

"Geez, and you're supposed to be the smart twin." Bill gave his new hair a little flip behind the shoulder before he turned around and placed his hands on his hips. "Let me put it simple for you: I brought you back and in return, I get to use your brothers body as my own personal puppet."

 

He.....what?

 

The elder Pines twin just sat there on the cold tiled floor as he let the words sink in. Stanley let Bill possess him?.....To bring him back to his home dimension?

 

A strange mixture of both overwhelming guilt and furious rage over came Stanford and for the first time since he had first appeared in the other dimension one year ago, he had no answers for what to do an felt completely and totally helpless.

 

SLAP!

 

Ford was yanked from his thoughts once more and looked over. Bill was still staring at his reflection. A stupid grin on his face and a red handprint on his right cheek.

 

"Haha! Pain is hilarious!" he slapped himself again. This time on the left. "Whoo!"

 

"Stop that!" Ford ordered, jumping to his feet and storming over towards his possessed sibling. 

 

"Aw, what's the matter Fordsy? You don't like me slapping your little brother~?" Bill taunted. His smile fell and his yellow eyes scowled and Ford knew that the situation was about to go from bad to worse. "Well too bad! Stanley's mine now!"

 

"No! I wont allow it! I wont let you do to my brother what you did to me!"

 

"Oh come off of it Sixer." Bill waved his hand in a dismissive motion. "You can drop the righteous, loving brother act now. We both know that everything you're saying right now is a lie."

 

"You know nothing!" Ford growled, clenching his hands into fists.

 

"Oh really?" Bill crossed his arms. "Then explain to me all those times where you ranted and raved to me about how your brother ruined your life?"

 

"Now see here-"

 

"About how he cost you your dream school by breaking that machine of yours?"

 

"Shut up!"

 

"How many times have you told me that you hate him?"

 

"I said SHUT UP!!!!"

 

"The truth hurts Sixer! Your no-good brother is the reason you wound up in the portal in the first place! Why should you care what happens to him?! Why-"

 

Bill saw a blur and pain erupted from his cheek. The force of the punch so strong that it knocked him off of his feet. Down he fell to the floor but a second later was grabbed by the shirt collar once again and lifted up off the ground. Furious brown eyes glared into his yellow ones.

 

"Now you listen to me you psychotic, three sided nightmare." Ford growled, his voice low and deadly. "Yes my brother and I have our differences. But that doesn't change the fact that he's family! I'll be damned if I'm just going to stand by and let you hurt him. So get out of his body, NOW!"

 

A moment of silence passed. The exceptions to the silence being Ford's heavy, angered breathing. Bill on the other hand, kept a blank expression. A wicked smile pulled at his lips. "Wowzer Sixer! I don't think I've ever seen you this mad before. I kinda like this side of you. But like I said, your brother's my meat puppet till further notice."

 

"If you wont get out of Stanley's body then I'll force you out!" Ford threatened, the grip on his brothers stained white t-shirt tightening. Ford couldn't see them but he was pretty sure that his knuckles were beginning to turn white.

 

"Go ahead." Bill's sadistic grin only grew. "Do your worst. But just remember, whatever you do to me, you'll be doing to your brother."

 

The world stopped.

 

Every ounce of color drained itself from Stanford's face and he felt his grip loosened. Bill was right. His eyes flickered over to Stan's right cheek, a bruise from the punch already beginning to form. Bill had worked both of them into a corner and now they were trapped.

 

"What do you want?" Ford whispered, his voice low and broken. 

 

Bill simply raised finger and pointed at the broken down portal. "I want you to fix the portal."

 

"NO!" Ford immediately answered. He knew what would happen if he did. He had experienced what nightmares would happen every single day for the past thirty years! There was no way in hell that he would willingly fix that god forsaken portal and let Bill's madness seep into his home deminsion. "Forget it! I wont do it!"

 

Ford expected an argument. A retaliation of some kind. But inside, Bill just simply shrugged. "Suit yourself then."

 

"I wont let you take over-" Ford stopped mid sentence and blinked, dumbfounded. ".....Wait, what?"

 

"I said, suit yourself. Are you even listening?"

 

"........That's it? No rebuttle?"

 

"What more do you want from me, Stanford? Geez!" Bill reached up and managed to unwind Standford's fists from his shirt, finally allowing his feet to touch the ground again. Ford just watched as his possessed twin turned and then calmly began to walk up the stairs back to the main part of the house.

 

.......No.

 

No, this was all types of wrong and Stanford knew that Bill had another motive. He would not let this matter drop without a literal to the death fight. His brain began to function once more and Stanford raced up the stairs after his twin.

 

Upon reaching the top of the stairs and exiting through his secret entrance, Ford looked left, then right, trying to find Bill. He heard a loud clattering coming from the kitchen and he raced off.

 

"Bill?!" the name escaped his mouth before he could even process that he spoke. "Bill! What're you-"

 

He turned the corner and froze. The silverware drawer was pulled open and both the drawer and it's contents were scattered around the floor. The smell of iron assaulted Stanford's nostrils and a puddle of scarlet blood oozed out from a long, deep looking cut that stretched across Stanley's arm, looking like a blood waterfall.

 

"Stanley!"

 

"You know~" Bill started, twirling a sharp knife around carelessy in his non cut hand. "I'm partially fond of yellow myself, but I also like red too~"

 

Ford's heart leaped itself into his throat as he watched as his possessed brother begin to drag the blade of the knife across his arm yet again. Another bloody waterfall began to ooze out from the arm and cascaded down to the tiled kitchen floor.

 

"STOP IT!!!" Stanford screamed, pure horror in his voice. He lunged towards Bill, desperately reaching for the knife but with a simple turn of his body, Bill moved out of reach and Stanford fell down. He shuddered as he felt something wet and warm seep through his shoe and realized that he had fallen into the blood puddle.

 

"Ah, ah, ah~ Not so fast Fordsy~" Bill taunted, grinning as Stanford turned around to face him. "You keep forgetting he's mine now. Which means I can do whatever I want with him!"

 

Ford's breath caught in his throat and his heart stopped completely as he watched as Bill placed the knife blade across Stanley's throat. "And what I want, is to make him bleed."

 

"Bill....no, please! You cant do this!" Stanford begged, totally helpless.

 

"Fix the portal and I might reconsider!"

 

"I.....I-I...." What could he do? What can he do!? 

 

"Tick tock Stanford. The clocks ticking."

 

Bill pressed the knife a bit deeper and a small trail of blood began its journey down Stanley's neck.

 

"Stop!" Ford begged reaching for his brother but daring not to take any sudden moves closer, lest Bill makes a fatal move. "Bill no! Please! You cant!"

 

"I can and I will!" the dream demon snarled, glaring with a burning fury at the terrified scientist. "A deal it a deal!"

 

A deal....

 

Deal.

 

Deal!

That's it!

 

"Wait!"

 

Bill stopped, the knife still pressed to Stanleys neck. The small trail of blood dripping down and staining the previously white shirt. The blood from his arm dripping down and staining his shirt, jacked, pants, shoes and the floor. His yellow eyes locked in on Stanford, waiting to see what the white and brunette haired man had to say.

 

"You like making deals, make one with me."

 

Bill blinked caught off guard by the suggestion. "Wait seriously?" Ford nodded grimly. "........Go on."

 

"Give me two weeks." Ford started. His chocolate eyes tired and looking as if he has aged a hundred years in only a few minutes. "You promise not to hurt Stanley during those two weeks and give me some time. If I cant find a way to get you out of his body, then I'll fix the portal."

 

"Now why on earth would I do that?" Bill scoffed. 

 

"Because if you don't take my deal, then I wont fix the portal. And if you hurt Stanley than you wont have a physical form anymore." Stanford pointed out.

 

Bill bit his lip and hesitated. The man had a point.

 

"You and I both know that your powers are limited when possessing a human." Stanford continued. Hoping. Praying that the demon would agree. He needed more time. "And if I cant....if I cant defeat you, then I'll fix the portal. You'll have rule over this deminsion and an actual physical form of your own."

 

Bill was quiet. His mind analyzing the situation. Stanford was smart. Bill knew that much. What if he actually figured out a way to exocise him from Stan's body? But on the other hand, Stanford was the only one who knew how to fix the portal. Plus he had his brother in his possession. Stanford wouldn't risk anything if it meant hurting him?

 

"........Make it one week."

 

Ford was quiet. He knew that making any kind of deal at all with Bill was a terrible mistake. It was because of his first deal with Bill that had gotten him into this mess in the first place. 

 

But it was also a deal that was the only thing keeping Bill from killing Stanley right on the spot.

 

"One week." Ford sighed. With trembling hands he lifted up his arm and Bill reached out, clamping his hand around Stanford's. Blue flames erupted around their hands, sealing their contract. The fire was warm but not unbearably so.

 

Bill smiled again, that sweet sickening smile that signified that he was in the lead. "See you in a week Sixer. And don't worry. I'll take good care of your brother for ya~"

 

Ford had to shield his eyes as Stan's entire body erupted into blue flames. Bill's manical laugh mixed with Stan's echoed throughout the kitchen and in the blink of an eye, he was gone. Only a scortch mark and the puddle of blood on the floor being evidence of the events that just happened.

 

Ford felt weak. His legs trembled violently before giving out. His knees slammed onto the tiled floor and both of his hands flew to his face. The palms of his hands working their way behind his glasses and pressing into his eyes which had began to leak with tears. His shoulders shook and a sob echoed through the empty house. Mixed in with the sobs were curses. He cursed Bill. He cursed Stanley for making that deal. But most of all, he cursed himself.

 

He didn't know how to fix this.


	4. A Stranger Tells All

The full moon shone overhead in the night sky. Mostly void, partially stars. The sleepy little Oregon town below it remained quiet. The majority of it's residents sound asleep save for the occasional gnome and other creatures that roamed the night.

 

And of coarse, the terrified scientist.

 

Stanford's muddy boots thudded against the tiled floor of the kitchen. The puddle of Stanley's blood still remained along with the spilled silverware drawer and it's contents. His heart raced and six fingered hands threaded themselves through his brown and white hair, pulling at it in fear and frustration. His body shook and his breaths were quick, short and paniced.

 

What the hell was he supposed to do?

 

"Damn you Bill.....Damn you Stanley....Damn EVERYTHING!!" he cried in despair, slamming his fist against the kitchen wall in frustration.

 

Ford dragged his still clenched fist down the side of the wall and rested his forehead against it. He closed his brown eyes and took several deliberately deep and slow breaths to try to calm himself down so he could think. He needed a plan and having a panic attack wasn't going to solve anything.

 

He analyzed the situation: His brother was being possessed by one of the most dangerous supernatural beings in the entire universe. He had one week to figure out a way to reverse this fact and save his twin and kill said dangerous supernatural being.

 

Sounds simple.

 

"Doomed. We're all doomed." Ford sighed in defeat. He removed his forehead from the wall and opted to sit on the floor instead, resting the back of his head against it. The memory of seeing his brother possessed like that constantly assaulting his mind.

 

Those eyes......those terrible, sickly yellow eyes.....Those eyes weren't human. They weren't natural. Had he looked like that when Bill was possessing him?

 

Ford felt sick as he thought that thought. This was all his fault. If he had never summoned Bill in the first place, none of this would have happened. 

 

"For being the smart twin, I'm such an idiot." he sighed, again trying to think of a solution.

He couldn't outright physically attack Bill without the risk of hurting Stanley in the process. So the solution would be to somehow get Bill out of Stanley's body.

 

But how?

 

His mind began to work again, trying to think of all that he knew about the yellow three sided demon. Ford had spent much time with Bill during their years of "friendship." They had worked together, played chess together and talked together.

 

With every little bit of information that Ford had discovered about Bill, he only knew of one weakness: Being in the mind scape.

 

A six fingered hand made its way to Ford's chin, rubbing at the stubble. (His lighter ran out of fluid the other week and he was in desperate need of a shave) Perhaps, if he could somehow trick Bill into leaving Stanley's body and enter his own, he could somehow either trap or kill Bill the moment he was out of Stanley's body but before he could posses his own.

 

But again, HOW?! How do you kill something that doesn't have a physical form?

 

An angry, frustrated groan escaped the scientists throat. "THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!!!"

 

He buried his face in his hands. He....he couldn't do it. Bill had gotten him for good this time. He couldn't.......he couldn't save Stanley.

 

Not by himself anyway.

 

The weight of the journal suddenly felt like a heavy cinderblock inside the pocket in his black coat. He remembered a year ago, after he had discovered Bill's betrayal but before he got pushed into the portal. The weeks leading up to that were hell on earth for Stanford. Paranoia had taken over his life. Everywhere he looked he saw triangles and eyeballs staring back at him. He couldn't sleep for days because he knew the instant he did, Bill would be there in his dreams and would do to him exactly what hes doing to Stanley right now.

He remembered during those hellish weeks the warnings about Bill he had written in the journals. Paranoia causing him to write his warnings in invisible ink. And his mental and emotional unstability from the betrayal causing him to write and to live by a single three word phrase for the past year.

 

Trust No One.

 

Stanford bit his lip to the point that his teeth broke the skin and he tasted blood. He had been on his own for so long. Everyone that he had trusted in the past eventually betraying him in some way, shape or form. Who could he turn too for help now?

 

A name suddenly resurfaced in Ford's mind. Aside from Stan, there was only one other person that Stan knew who had knowledge about Bill. One other person who knew Stanford as well as he knew himself. One other person who he was willing to put the past aside for and trust once again.

 

He just hoped the person would even speak to him.

 

**************************************************

 

Stanford knew it was late and that most of the town was asleep, but this was the very definition of an emergency and he needed help as of yesterday. 

 

"He'll understand.....I hope."

 

Despite not being here for a year, Standford was surprised at how easily the memory of the town came back to him. The town hadn't changed much at all during his absence. There was the local diner where Susan the waitress worked and the Convenience store that was run by that nice elderly couple. The buildings were the same. The streets were the same. Everything was the same as it was the last time he saw it.

 

Stanford took a little bit of comfort in this fact.

 

The comfort and nostalgia quickly wore off though as he realized he was getting closer to his destination. His stomach did a flip and he bit his bottom lip. What would he say? What could he say? How would he react?

 

Stanford's worried thoughts were pushed to the side as he spotted his destination. A small but cozy little house just on the outskirts of town. Stanford had been to this house many times. Both for work related business and as a guest, invited over just for fun and friendly bonding. 

 

The scientist was worried. He hadn't been to this house or spoken to its owner since that one night....that one terrible night.....

 

He shook his head. It was too late to chicken out now. He sucked in a breath, marched up the creaky wooden porch steps and pounded his six fingered fist on the door.

 

"Fiddleford! Fiddleford open up! Please?! It's me! Stanford!"

 

A moment passed and a light flicked on from the inside. The brunette heard shuffling and heavy footsteps pounding down the stairs and the door was opened by-

 

Not the person he was expecting it to be opened by.

 

In the doorway stood a large, large man. Someone who put Stanford in mind of a body builder who liked to eat nails for breakfast and bench press humans instead of weights. He towered over Stanford by a good two and a half feet and the light of the moon reflected off his shiny bald head and his eyes squinted at Stanford in annoyance and in anger at the rude awakening. The scientist felt himself shrink down in fear.

 

"I have made a grave mistake. He's going to eat me."

 

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" the man spoke, his voice deep and rumbling like a hungry lion on the prowl. This just further emphasized the fact in Ford's mind that he was just mere moments away from being beaten or devored whole. Perhaps even both.

 

"I-I-uh-" he coughed and smiled up nervously at the massive, intimidating man. "My deepest apologies sir. There seems to have been a mistake?"

 

"You don't say?" the man mumbled annoyed. "What do you want four-eyes?"

 

Ford glanced around at the house. The address was correct, the house number was correct. The house itself was correct. This was the right house but why wasn't he here?

 

"I'm looking for an old friend of mine who used to live here, I suppose." Ford responded. "Fiddleford McGucket?"

 

The man blinked the name registering in his mind. "McGucket? You mean that crazy old kook?"

 

.....What?

 

"Uh....Crazy old kook?" Ford asked uncertainly. He was beginning to get the feeling that he wasnt going to like what he was about to hear.

 

"Yeah, you haven't heard?" the man asked. "Rumor has it the guy had some sorta mental break down or something about a year ago. Went completely nuts. Anyway he stopped paying his rent for this place and got kicked out so now I'm here."

 

A weight felt like it was pressing itself down on the scientist as he took in the news. The memory of that night with the portal came rushing towards his mind. "You.....You can't be serious!" he cried in despair. "There's no way...."

 

The man shrugged. "Look man, I don't know. Im just going by rumors." he paused and blinked. "Wait a second, if you're that fools friend how did you not know all this already?"

 

Ford had to think on his feet here. "I....I haven't been in town for the past year so I'm a bit out of the loop." It wasn't a complete lie, really. 

 

"And why the hell are you looking for him at this god forsaken hour?" the man asked, annoyance lacing his voice. "It's 2:30 AM for cripes sake!!!!"

 

"I know. I know. I'm really sorry for disturbing you." Ford apologized sincerely. "Listen there's a bit of an emergency and it's really, really important that I find him. Do you know where he is?"

 

The man let out a yawn. "Try the dump."

 

Ford blinked. "The dump? Fiddleford's living at the dump!?!"

 

"Look man, I aint got time for this!" the man snapped. "I got a wife and kids sleeping in there and I got to be at work in a few hours. I ain't got time to be playing twenty questions with some weirdo banging on my door at 2:30 in the damn morning."

 

Ford felt like he should have been offended by the "weirdo" comment but in all honesty, he wasn't. And he didn't blame the man for saying that either because he was also absolutely right.

 

"Rumor is that he's at the dump, that's all I know." the large man explained grabbing the doorknob in his large beefy hand. "Good luck. Good night and good bye."

 

Ford flinched as the door was slammed shut in his face. He heard a tiny click signaling the door had been locked and once again he had found himself all alone.

 

Mental break down?

 

Dump?

 

Kook?

 

The scientist shivered and felt his chest grow tight. Once again the memory of that night racing towards the front of his mind.

 

Fiddleford getting sucked into the portal.

 

The wide eyed look of pure terror in his eyes when Ford pulled him out.

 

The garbled gibberish.

 

The warning.

 

And then finally, the fight they had gotten in before Fiddleford stormed out of the house.

 

That was the last time the two had seen or spoken to each other.

 

But surely the man had been mistaken. Surely Fiddleford was still fine. Surely he didn't really have a breakdown. Surely it wasn't caused by the portal.

 

Right?

 

Once again, Ford pushed his thoughts aside and let out a shaky sigh. There was only one way to find out.

 

And so, he turned on his heel and began walking in the direction of the town dump.


End file.
